Finding Rural Property

Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:40 am

I am looking for a farm and wondered the best way to find one at a reasonable price. Real Estate Agent is out. Ideas?

Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:58 am

There are three types of people was far a farming goes. Ones that want to buy one, those that want to sell one and big corporation farmers. I see you are near Buffalo. Just a bit east of you there is good flat farm land that is quite fertile and well drained. What type of farming are you interested in? Livestock or crop. Big or small livestock, chicken or cows, beef or milk. What experience or training do you have. What money and or other assets do you have. what machinery do you have, or access to. Will you use custom planting and harvesting, is it available in your intended area at a reasonable price and appropriate time? Will you be all alone, do you have family in farming and willing and able to help. There are a thousand questions to be solved first. Have you done your homework? Further why the bias against real estate agents? Their babies need shoes too. Oh yes What effect will lake effect snow storms have on a livestock operation if that is what you are looking at.
I have friends were hog farmers between Lake Seneca and Lake Cayuga. Two brothers each with their own farms. They each finished about 2000 hogs a year. Big for NY but small compared to other places. They had other family to depend on for immediate equipment replacement in case of breakdown (while being repaired). Guess what as the children grew up and to school, they went from string bales to wire bails, (more hay,fewer bales) to big square bales with a bailer that accumulates 20 of them at a time and stacks all 20 at once in the modified high clearance barn. The machine can take them 20 at a time and load on to a trailer for sale too. Oh by the way by planting corn and the hay they are now making more money now than on the hog operation with only 1 person running both farms. The one brother had a stroke and is incapacitated. Of course it in finance intensive. You could buy a farm for what that self propelled bailing machine cost.

check this out...

and let me know what you think. where do you want to buy? how many acres? want to buy livestock with the farm? let me know what you want, i have several good contacts here S.E. of Syracuse...

good luck!
dave

Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:00 pm

Research. Local newspaper, free flyers in the grocery stores. Forclosed properties put up for public auction are listed in the official notice section of the county's official newspaper.

Real estate agents. Yup real estate agents. Locally, every Monday the agents print out a sheet listing all of the local properties for sale.

Notify your local banks that you are looking for a farm.

Put an ad in the newspaper.

Web search. Quite a number of real estate agents have their properties listed.

Reasonable price. Farm land has doubled and tripled in price in the past few years. This may not be a good time to buy farm land if you actually intend to farm. My guess is that in a few more years, after ethanol craze has died down, farm land may be a bit more reasonable.

beaconlight wrote:There are three types of people was far a farming goes. Ones that want to buy one, those that want to sell one and big corporation farmers. I see you are near Buffalo. Just a bit east of you there is good flat farm land that is quite fertile and well drained. What type of farming are you interested in? Livestock or crop. Big or small livestock, chicken or cows, beef or milk. What experience or training do you have. What money and or other assets do you have. what machinery do you have, or access to. Will you use custom planting and harvesting, is it available in your intended area at a reasonable price and appropriate time? Will you be all alone, do you have family in farming and willing and able to help. There are a thousand questions to be solved first. Have you done your homework? Further why the bias against real estate agents? Their babies need shoes too. Oh yes What effect will lake effect snow storms have on a livestock operation if that is what you are looking at.I have friends were hog farmers between Lake Seneca and Lake Cayuga. Two brothers each with their own farms. They each finished about 2000 hogs a year. Big for NY but small compared to other places. They had other family to depend on for immediate equipment replacement in case of breakdown (while being repaired). Guess what as the children grew up and to school, they went from string bales to wire bails, (more hay,fewer bales) to big square bales with a bailer that accumulates 20 of them at a time and stacks all 20 at once in the modified high clearance barn. The machine can take them 20 at a time and load on to a trailer for sale too. Oh by the way by planting corn and the hay they are now making more money now than on the hog operation with only 1 person running both farms. The one brother had a stroke and is incapacitated. Of course it in finance intensive. You could buy a farm for what that self propelled bailing machine cost.

couldn't put it any better myself. Equipment cost more then the property even buying used. Pick what you want and work towards it. I have changed farming operations 3 times in 7 years. To retool is expensive.
make 1 decision and standby and change accordingly. Research and research well.

Best of Luck

Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:33 pm

Here in Ma. a lot of the farmers are renting out thier land to a few of the bigger guys. My wifes uncle went from milking 80 plus, to raising a couple dozen replacement hefers and selling hay. He also took a job at the local feed store. Said he wishes he had done it years earlier. His farm is about 250 acres. I admire your ambition, I have about 20 acres and my dream is to do some small scale farming when I retire.

Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:20 am

I was thinking that it is a shame you didn't ask a few days earlier. If you had I would have commended the "2008 New York Farm Show at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse NY" It is a three day show but unfortunately it started yesterday and tomorrow is the last day.
Another good source of farm related information is "American Agriculturist" magazine. They have a great article on experiments varying inputs on corn and the effect it had on yields. Similar fields on the same farm with changes in nitrogen and in some cases varied from a high of 234 bushels an acre to as low as 84 bushels an acre. The experiments were carried out in Edinburgh in south central Indiana on . Plot soils are 1.5 to 2%organic matterloams over gravel at 30 t0 36 inches. It was a bad year for yield for they only had 5.75 inches of rainfall in 28 events from planting[May 1 } through September. There were 41 days of 90-degree days or over. In some test fields more nitrogen lowered the yeild even with irrigation.
Their was other articles about weed control.
I recommend you spend the time at the Ag college or the 2 year college at Delhi NY. The other alternative is to get a rich farmers daughter as a girl friend and future wife. Be good to mommy ond daddy so that you not only get the farm eventually but can be taught hoe to run it at a profit. Substance farming sucks at it's best. Make sure the daughter isn't too good looking for then she may have dreams of Hollywood and you will not get the farm. In my case it would be so she doesn't get tired of me and go for better. Of course you don't want a girl such you have to grit your teeth every time you sit at table with her.
All kidding aside, the more you know, the more you grow on a given plot of land. Much of NY is clay soils and in some cases very thin. Especially in the mountains. Farm prices have trippled in the past ten years and with this ethanol fever this may not be a good time to buy

Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:39 am

beaconlight wrote:There are three types of people was far a farming goes. Ones that want to buy one, those that want to sell one and big corporation farmers. I see you are near Buffalo. Just a bit east of you there is good flat farm land that is quite fertile and well drained. What type of farming are you interested in? Livestock or crop. Big or small livestock, chicken or cows, beef or milk. What experience or training do you have. What money and or other assets do you have. what machinery do you have, or access to. Will you use custom planting and harvesting, is it available in your intended area at a reasonable price and appropriate time? Will you be all alone, do you have family in farming and willing and able to help. There are a thousand questions to be solved first. Have you done your homework? Further why the bias against real estate agents? Their babies need shoes too. Oh yes What effect will lake effect snow storms have on a livestock operation if that is what you are looking at.I have friends were hog farmers between Lake Seneca and Lake Cayuga. Two brothers each with their own farms. They each finished about 2000 hogs a year. Big for NY but small compared to other places. They had other family to depend on for immediate equipment replacement in case of breakdown (while being repaired). Guess what as the children grew up and to school, they went from string bales to wire bails, (more hay,fewer bales) to big square bales with a bailer that accumulates 20 of them at a time and stacks all 20 at once in the modified high clearance barn. The machine can take them 20 at a time and load on to a trailer for sale too. Oh by the way by planting corn and the hay they are now making more money now than on the hog operation with only 1 person running both farms. The one brother had a stroke and is incapacitated. Of course it in finance intensive. You could buy a farm for what that self propelled bailing machine cost.

Thank you for your input. I grew up working on farms, dairy, beef, grain. My wife has worked on a farm for the last 5 years. I have been a beekeeper for over 20 years. We want a place for organic farming to raise a few chickens, cattle, hogs, grow animal feed, vegtables and for the bees. No bias against real estate agents. The best prices for farms and land are not usually with real estate agents.

Last edited by 2cubs2cases on Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: check this out...

and let me know what you think. where do you want to buy? how many acres? want to buy livestock with the farm? let me know what you want, i have several good contacts here S.E. of Syracuse...

good luck!dave

Thank you very informative.

Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:42 am

Eugene wrote:Research. Local newspaper, free flyers in the grocery stores. Forclosed properties put up for public auction are listed in the official notice section of the county's official newspaper.

Real estate agents. Yup real estate agents. Locally, every Monday the agents print out a sheet listing all of the local properties for sale.

Notify your local banks that you are looking for a farm.

Put an ad in the newspaper.

Web search. Quite a number of real estate agents have their properties listed.

Reasonable price. Farm land has doubled and tripled in price in the past few years. This may not be a good time to buy farm land if you actually intend to farm. My guess is that in a few more years, after ethanol craze has died down, farm land may be a bit more reasonable.

Good points.

Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:48 am

beaconlight wrote:I was thinking that it is a shame you didn't ask a few days earlier. If you had I would have commended the "2008 New York Farm Show at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse NY" It is a three day show but unfortunately it started yesterday and tomorrow is the last day. Another good source of farm related information is "American Agriculturist" magazine. They have a great article on experiments varying inputs on corn and the effect it had on yields. Similar fields on the same farm with changes in nitrogen and in some cases varied from a high of 234 bushels an acre to as low as 84 bushels an acre. The experiments were carried out in Edinburgh in south central Indiana on . Plot soils are 1.5 to 2%organic matterloams over gravel at 30 t0 36 inches. It was a bad year for yield for they only had 5.75 inches of rainfall in 28 events from planting[May 1 } through September. There were 41 days of 90-degree days or over. In some test fields more nitrogen lowered the yeild even with irrigation. Their was other articles about weed control.I recommend you spend the time at the Ag college or the 2 year college at Delhi NY. The other alternative is to get a rich farmers daughter as a girl friend and future wife. Be good to mommy ond daddy so that you not only get the farm eventually but can be taught hoe to run it at a profit. Substance farming sucks at it's best. Make sure the daughter isn't too good looking for then she may have dreams of Hollywood and you will not get the farm. In my case it would be so she doesn't get tired of me and go for better. Of course you don't want a girl such you have to grit your teeth every time you sit at table with her.All kidding aside, the more you know, the more you grow on a given plot of land. Much of NY is clay soils and in some cases very thin. Especially in the mountains. Farm prices have trippled in the past ten years and with this ethanol fever this may not be a good time to buy

Already have a great wife for 21 years and she likes farming. I was aware of the farm show but was not able to get there.